Contents

Plot[edit]

Five years after leaving Los Angeles, Dominic Toretto (Vin Diesel) and his new crew, consisting of his girlfriend, Letty (Michelle Rodriguez), Leo Tego (Tego Calderón), Rico Santos (Don Omar), Cara Mirtha (Mirtha Michelle) and Han (Sung Kang), are hijacking fuel tankers in the Dominican Republic. Dominic begins to suspect the trail is too hot, after Han informs him that one of his garages have been raided, forcing the crew to disband and go their separate ways. Realizing that he has to move, he packs his things in the middle of the night and leaves Letty behind in order to protect her from harm.

Three months later, Dominic is now residing in Panama City, and while there, he gets a call from his sister, Mia Toretto (Jordana Brewster), who tells him that Letty has been murdered after getting into a near fatal car accident. Heartbroken, Dominic heads back to Los Angeles in his red 1970 Chevrolet Chevelle over the Mexico border to her funeral to examine Letty's crash and finds traces of nitromethane on the ground. He then goes to the only car mechanic that sells nitromethane and coerces him into giving him the name David Park (Ron Yuan), the man who ordered the fuel, and informs him that the car that uses nitromethane is a green 1972 Ford Gran Torino Sport.

Meanwhile, U.S. FBI federal agent Brian O'Conner (Paul Walker) is trying to track down a drug dealer named Arturo Braga (Robert Miano). His search leads him to David Park, and using illegal modification record on his car, he tracks him down. Dominic arrives at Park's apartment first and hangs him out of the window by his ankles before letting go. Brian, who was also on his way to Park's place, saves Park and Park becomes the FBI's new informant. Park gets Brian into a street race through Los Angeles. Brian selects a modified2001 Nissan Skyline GT-R R34 from the Impound Lot. Dominic also shows up to race in his modified Chevelle. Gisele Yashar (Gal Gadot), the liaison for Braga, reveals that the winner will become the last driver on a team that traffics heroin between the Mexico–United States border. Dominic wins by bumping Brian's car, making him lose control. Brian uses his power as an F.B.I. agent to arrest another driver, Dwight Mueller (Greg Cipes), and takes his place on the team.

The following day, the team meets one of Braga's men, named Fenix (Laz Alonso), and Dominic notices that Fenix drives the same Torino as the mechanic described. They drive across the border using underground tunnels to avoid detection. Brian had prior knowledge that, after the heroin was delivered, Braga ordered the drivers to be killed. However it was revealed to Dominic from Fenix that he killed Letty personally, and after a tense stand-off, Dominic detonates his car with nitrous to distract Braga's men and Brian hijacks a 1999 Hummer H1 with $60 million worth of heroin. Both Dominic and Brian drive back to L.A and hide the heroin in a police impound lot, where Brian picks up a modified 2008 Subaru Impreza WRX STI, and they drive to Dominic's hideout.

Later, Dominic finds out Brian was the last person to contact Letty, which results in him being attacked by Dominic before he could explain to him until he learns Letty was working undercover for Brian, tracking down Braga in exchange for clearing Dominic's record. Brian tells his superiors that in exchange for Dominic's pardon, he will lure Braga into a trap, forcing him to personally show up to exchange money for the heroin. At the drop site, the man who claims to be "Braga", is revealed as a decoy, and "Campos" (John Ortiz), the real Braga, escapes and flees to Mexico.

Brian and Dominic travel to Mexico on their own to catch Braga. They find him at a church and apprehend him. As Braga's henchmen try to rescue Braga, Brian and Dominic drive through the underground tunnels back to the United States. Brian crashes his car after taking fire from Braga's men. He is then injured after being T-boned by Fenix at the end of the tunnel. Before Fenix can kill Brian, Dominic drives into and kills Fenix. As police and helicopters start approaching the crash site on the American side of the border, Brian tells Dominic to leave, but Dominic refuses saying that he is tired of running. Despite Brian's request for clemency, the judge sentences Dominic to 25 years to life while Brian resigns from the F.B.I. Dominic boards a prison bus that will transport him to Lompoc penitentiary. As the bus drives down the road, Brian, Mia, Leo and Santos arrive in their cars to intercept it.

Cast[edit]

Vin Diesel as Dominic Toretto, an auto mechanic, ex-convict, elite street racer and a street smart hijacker from the United States. Dominic is wanted for committing numerous semi-truck hijackings. At the beginning of the film, he is living in the Dominican Republic and drives a black Buick Grand National to hijack fuel trucks.[4]

Production[edit]

The movie cars were built in Southern California's San Fernando Valley. Around 240 cars were built for the film.[5] However, the replica vehicles do not match the specifications they were supposed to represent. For example, the replica version of F-Bomb, a 1973 Chevrolet Camaro built by Tom Nelson of NRE and David Freiburger of Hot Rod magazine, included a 300 hp crate V8 engine with a 3-speed automatic transmission, whereas the actual car included a twin-turbo 1,500 hp engine and a 5-speed transmission.[6]

The original Dodge Charger 426 Hemi R/T that was used in the original movie was a 1970, but the car in this movie was a 1969 Dodge Charger R/T 426 Hemi with a slightly modified front grill to appear as a 1970 car; the original 1970 Dodge Charger was in pieces, being totally disassembled for restoration.

The most radical vehicles built for the film were the Chevy trucks constructed for the fuel heist. Powered by 502ci GM big block motors, the '67 had a giant ladder-bar suspension with airbags using a massive 10-ton semi rear axle with the biggest and widest truck tires they could find. The '88 Chevy Crew Cab was built with twin full-floating GM 1-ton axles equipped with Detroit Lockers and a transfer case directing power to both axles and capable of four-wheel burnouts.[7]

Another vehicle built for the film was the blue Nissan Skyline GT-R R34 provided by an uncredited owner who modified the vehicle to 1,200 horsepower and drove it at Japan's Shuto Expressway at 241 miles per hour. It was a hard car to build for the production so they made clones by acquiring Nissan Skyline 25GTs and refitting them to look like the original car. The Skyline used at the desert was actually a dune buggy using the shell of an R34.

Also featured in the background under a club scene which was omitted from the album, was song "Ride" written by Kervins Joseph and Travis Baker, published by InDigi Avenue Music Publishing (ASCAP), courtesy InDigi Music, and Virtual Diva Performed By Don Omar.[citation needed]

Reception[edit]

Critical response[edit]

Fast & Furious has received negative reviews from professional critics. The film is rated at 27% based on 172 reviews collected on the Rotten Tomatoes website[10] and 45 on Metacritic based on 27 reviews.[11]

Lisa Schwarzbaum of Entertainment Weekly gives the film a B+, saying, "Fast & Furious is still no Point Break. But it's perfectly aware of its limited dramatic mission...and...it offers an attractive getaway route from self-importance, snark, and chatty comedies about male bonding."[12] Kirk Honeycutt of The Hollywood Reporter thought this movie was the first real sequel to the first and also gave it a positive review, writing, "Fast & Furious is the first true sequel of the bunch. By reuniting the two male stars from the original and...continuing the story from the first film, this new film should re-ignite the franchise."[13] Betsy Sharkey of the Los Angeles Times gave it a positive review, providing viewers were car fans, writing, "If you're a lover of stomach-clenching speed that turns the world into a neon blur...then Fast & Furious, the fourth edition of that metal-twisting series, should leave you exhausted and satiated for a very long time."[14]

Roger Ebert, who gave positive reviews to the previous films, gave an unfavorable review of the film, writing, "I admire the craft involved, but the movie leaves me profoundly indifferent. After three earlier movies in the series, which have been transmuted into video games, why do we need a fourth one? Oh. I just answered my own question."[15]

Box office[edit]

On its first day of release the movie grossed $30.5 million, and peaked at the top spot of the weekend box office with $70,950,500, more than Tokyo Drift earned in its entire domestic run.[16] The film had the sixth-biggest opening weekend of 2009 and was double what most industry observers expected.[17]

It also held the record for the highest-grossing opening weekend in April[18] and of any car-oriented film, the record having been previously held by Cars, which grossed $60.1 million. Both of these records were broken two years later by Fast Five, which grossed $86.2 million.[19]Fast & Furious also held the record for the highest opening weekend for a Spring release, until it was broken by Tim Burton's Alice in Wonderland. Its worldwide gross on its opening weekend stands at $102.6 million[20] with $7.2 million coming from the UK, $8.6 million from Russia, $6 million in France and $3 million from Germany.[21]

As of July 27, 2011 the film had grossed a total of $155,064,265 in the United States and $363,164,265 worldwide (making it the third most successful film in the franchise behind Fast & Furious 6 and Fast Five) and is the fourth highest-grossing film in the car genre, behind Fast & Furious 6, Fast Five and Cars.[1]

Home video[edit]

Fast & Furious was released on DVD and Blu-ray on July 28, 2009.[22] The DVD is a two-disc set that includes:

Digital copy of the film

Under the Hood: Muscle Cars & Imports

High Octane Action: The Stunts

Shooting the Big Rig Heist

Driving School with Vin Diesel

Original short film Los Bandoleros, the never-before-seen short film that reveals the events leading up to the explosive beginning of Fast & Furious. It is written and directed by Vin Diesel and was produced in the Dominican Republic.[23] This has been released on the iTunes Store as a free download.

As of July 29, 2011 the DVD has sold 3,324,117 copies generating $53,879,547 in sales revenue for a combined total of $417,043,812 including worldwide movie ticket sales.[24]

It was re-released in Australia on Blu-ray including a digital copy and re-titled Fast & Furious 4 on March 30, 2011.